Personal Hygiene and Stuff




Dear Friends

With no word from Taconic Lumber on the arrival of the Douglas fir 6x6 beams that are the main support for the porch roof, I was at a loss planing the weekends activity...... but there is the discomfort of showering outside in Vermont after the sun has set in the Autumn and the temperature drops like a stone. Time for a Thursday night Home Depot Date. If they had a cafe like the big bookstores it could be a complete romantic evening.

We picked out an acceptable linoleum and plywood for the sub floor for the downstairs of the guest tower and a shower stall and then drove the plumbing department salesman to the edge (like our troops in Iraq, Home Depot is short staffed and he had been there for 11 hours) helping us find all the parts necessary to hook up drain lines for toilet, shower and sink.

On Friday we stopped to pick up The Child of the Fire, from the People of the Fire Suite of bronzes, which had been on extended loan for five years or so. This photo is the first appearance in cyber space of this piece. I didn't have a chance to photograph it when it was completed.

My building efforts got a trap door built to the plumbing crawl space (cellar?), the sub floor plywood and linoleum fitted and installed. Ran into layout confusion with the shower drain falling outside the cellar due to the cantilever of the floor. The shower also intruded on the windows centered on the elevation. Louise suggested a different shower location, and then the toilet found a new location and the interest in mazes that lead to the mosaic spiral also reconfigured the whole bath area as an exercise in "just big enough." I couldn't get the door to the shower/toilet area and the window to share a common centerline. Richard Gluckman would be horrified ( but I doubt he'll visit). Scouted all the 2x4's lying around and built the shower enclosure by the end of the weekend. Didn't have enough to build the privacy wall for the toilet.

Sunday we got in the blocking on the eve wall of the tower (keep out bugs and cold) and built a railing over the stairwell. Last weekend Louise had built a ladder to the loft. Saturday we had a visit from Katherine and Bill Montgomery, our landlords in North Adams during last summers framing of the main camp. They had a new tenant for the student apartment and were getting rid of mattresses, and brought us up the double we had slept on last year. So we now have inhabitable guest space. We are taking reservations......Love to all...BSB

Posted by Bennett at 9:07 PM EDT | post your comment (0) | link to this post
Updated: Monday, 13 September 2004 9:19 PM EDT